Amazon has ordered 20,000 vans for its new delivery program in which contractors around the country can launch businesses that deliver packages for the online retailer. The company increased its van order from 4,500 after it was surprised by the number of applications it received. The delivery program is part of Amazon's plan to gain more control over how its packages are delivered and rely less on other delivery services, such as UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service. [Associated Press]

Amazon is sssembling its own delivery fleet to have more control of its shipments (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Scammers Use Fake Checks to Steal Tens of Millions of Dollars Each Year

Counterfeit checks, often digitally altered versions of real business checks, are so good that they're nearly impossible to spot. Even bank tellers can be fooled. It's estimated that as many as 500,000 Americans were burned by fake check scams last year, with the average victim losing about $1,200. [NBC News]

Why Credit Card Rules Are Anticompetitive

Merchants aren't allowed to add surcharges to reflect their costs for taking credit cards. They can't even try to steer customers by disclosing which cards carry lower expenses. The no-surcharge and no-steering rulings eliminate competition among credit card companies because a low-cost credit card company will not see its low fees reflected in lower surcharges and a higher market share. [Chicago Booth Review]

Fintechs See Mastercard-Google Data Deal as a Call to Arms

Mastercard and Google's reported deal gives the search giant the ability to track card sales data to ostensibly measure the effectiveness of marketing and search. This can more closely match consumers' shopping and payment habits to retail technology and business decisions and give Mastercard technology cred beyond card payments. The news sends a clear message to fintechs: There is a demand for consumer data that outweighs the privacy concerns that would hinder many data-sharing partnerships. [Payments Source]

PayPal Just Announced It Has Over Quarter of a Billion Users

PayPal announced it now has more than 250 million customers using its payment services. The company said that the growth in users meant that around 3 million people were joining the service every month. [Neowin]

British Airways Investigating Customer Data Breach

British Airways said it is investigating a customer data breach on its website and mobile app. Around 380,000 card payments were compromised by the breach. The breach occurred from August 21 to September 5. British Airways said that the stolen data did not include travel or passport details. [CNBC]

Bitcoin Bloodbath: Cryptocurrency Plunges 20% in Two Days

Bitcoin investors are getting their digital butts kicked lately. Hard. Bitcoin prices have plunged more than 20% in the past two days. Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple and other cryptocurrencies have suffered similarly large drops. The reason for the latest pullback? A report that investment banking giant Goldman Sachs may be dropping plans to launch a crypto trading desk. [CNN]

Hu-manity.co, the company pushing for the 31st human right for individuals to own their data as property, announced the launch of an Android app aimed at giving consumers the power to claim, control and manage their data. Hu-manity.co said its new app, #My31, will give users a title for digital data that is stored on a blockchain. Users can then choose if, how and where their data will be used by companies, and their choices will be recorded on blockchain. [PYMNTS]

Justice Department Probing Wells Fargo's Wholesale Banking Unit

The Justice Department is probing whether employees committed fraud in Wells Fargo's wholesale banking unit, following revelations that employees improperly altered customer information. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that some employees in the unit added information on customer documents, such as Social Security numbers and dates of birth, without consent. The Justice Department in recent weeks has sought more information from the bank to examine if management pressure prompted the employees to improperly alter or add the information. [The Wall Street Journal]

Try These Creative Strategies for Lowering Your Debt-to-Income Ratio

If you're struggling to qualify for a personal loan, your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio could be to blame. Loan companies look closely at your DTI before approving your application. If the ratio is high, lenders take it as a warning sign that you might not be able to repay what you owe. Lenders often look for a DTI of 36% or lower for any type of loan. So if your ratio is higher than that, what can you do to bring it down into a more acceptable range? [MarketWatch]

What Are Virtual Credit Cards, and Should You Have One?

These days, you can't make an online purchase without thinking about security. While you may not be responsible for fraudulent charges made by an identity thief, it can still take weeks to get the situation resolved, and you could end up without any available credit when you need it. Fortunately, there's now a better way to keep your credit your own. It's called a virtual credit card. Here's what you should know about virtual credit cards. [Motley Fool]

I have been the Chief Executive Officer of Lowcards.com for the past 18 years. LowCards is a free consumer resource website that covers the credit card industry from every perspective. We wrote The Credit Card Guidebook, a free online book to help people navigate the comple...